RACINE — A 19-year-old man is facing the next several decades in prison after allegedly shooting two men at an intersection in February.
Diego Astorga was charged Wed., Feb. 22, in Racine County Circuit Court with two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and one felony count of discharging a firearm from a vehicle toward another vehicle. If convicted, he faces up to 62-1/2 years in prison and/or up to $225,000 in fines.
Astorga could see an additional 10 years tacked onto any sentence he receives because he allegedly used a firearm in the commission of a crime.
The criminal complaint: shooting from a vehicle
According to the criminal complaint, on Sat., Feb. 4, two men patronized a local pool hall where they encountered Astorga but weren’t involved in a confrontation with him. When the men left the establishment, they headed north on Ohio Street.
At the intersection of Ohio and Byrd, the men stopped for a red light when another vehicle pulled alongside them, the complaint continues. The driver of the second vehicle fired five shots, shooting both men in the first car. The passenger was shot in the arm, and the driver was shot through both legs. The offending vehicle then fled the area.
The men continued north to Graceland and Ohio when they called 911. According to the criminal complaint, when police responded, a friend of the two men who was behind them during the incident confirmed the sequence of events. Both shooting victims were transported to the hospital where the passenger had to have the bullet surgically removed from his arm.
Surveillance from the area around the pool hall gave investigators a lead associated with the car that led them to Astorga’s sister, the complaint reads. When police questioned Astorga, he denied having anything to do with the shooting. Eventually, he came clean but said he only meant to scare the occupants of the vehicle and revealed the location of the 9mm he used.
Astorga was assigned a $20,000 cash bond and ordered to stay away from the shooting victims and to not possess or handle any firearms. He will be in court next on March 1 for his preliminary hearing.
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